Read More

The married dad-of-five said it had been his habit for more than ten years to go out in the early hours three times a week, stealing up to 45 gallons a night from parked-up trucks.

But in truth, while out late at night stealing fuel, he was also able to "recce" the homes and habits of women fitting the particular profile he favoured.

Din claimed he had found the black balaclava he was wearing during this incident "lying in the road" on an earlier occasion.

"I stopped the car and picked it up because I thought I had run over a cat,” he told Teesside Crown Court.

The evil rapist started his sentence in floods of tears

The jury of eight women and four men took more than eight hours to bring in the guilty verdicts on one charge of rape, three of attempted rape and one of burglary with intent to rape.

Din, who lived in Hartlepool, was branded "a continuing public danger" by the trial judge, Peter Fox QC, and jailed for 20 years.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life and the judge said that when he was released he should be kept under the closest supervision.

Judge Peter Fox QC

Din's wife was not in court when he was sentenced in April 2002, but his blonde mistress was. After the verdict he repeatedly mouthed at her: "I didn't do it," but she responded with: "Yes, you did."

The rapist's long record, going back to the juvenile court and mainly made up of petty thieving, also contained one offence of indecent assault on a woman when he was just 15 and another in 1991 of stealing a woman’s underwear from a washing line.

In 2003 he appealed the conviction and the sentence - taking it to the High Court in a bid to be freed - but it was rejected.